Barbarians of China

The Barbarians of China were various tribes of different ethnic origins that migrated into China during the time of the Han dynasty-Jin dynasty eras (the first 400 years of the Common Era). They ranged from the Xianbei Mongols to the north to the Khmer Nanman to the south and the Indo-Scythian Jie of the west.

History
The barbarian tribes surrounding China consisted of various groups of nomads from diverse ethnic groups, with the main threats coming from Mongolia to the north and Sichuan to the west. In 200 BCE, the Xiongnu khan Modu defeated Liu Bang's Han dynasty, forcing him to allow his daughter to marry Modu. The Han fought against the Xiongnu until their destruction in the 1st century CE, and they also had to fend off invasions by the Qiang, Qi, Di, and the Nanman peoples. The barbarians made frequent invasions of China, but they were kept down by the Han until the empire fragmented in 220 CE, followed by the Three Kingdoms era. At that time, the Nanman tribe allied with Cao Wei and rebelled against the kingdom of Shu Han in 225 CE, but it was defeated seven times and forced to surrender. Shu later allied with the Qiang during their invasions of Cao Wei from 228 to 234 and 244 to 263, and they allied with the barbarians in the defense of their country before Wei conquered Shu in 263 CE. The Jin dynasty reunited China again in 280 CE, and they held off barbarian attacks until the War of the Eight Princes led to the division of the Jin into multiple factions. The Revolt of the Five Barbarians of 305 CE onwards allowed for the Wu Hu tribes to invade China and found kingdoms in northern China, forming the Sixteen Kingdoms. The barbarians ceased to be outsiders as they imposed theri customs on the Han Chinese and formed their own states in China.